Whilst I was browsing instagram I came across an image from Samuel Fradley's project, 'a handshake with a martian' which is a project based around a group of UFO researchers. This prompted me to find his website and look at the full body of work. The project consists of a mix of newspaper clippings, magazine covers, portraits, closeups, and landscapes to tell the story of this group and gives the viewer a look into the world of UFO research.
Samuel Fradley is a British documentary photographer and owner of the south west collective. he often documents the unusual and lesser known groups in society, like ghost hunters, and UFO researchers.
What first caught my attention were his portraits of the UFO researchers as I really like the way they looked and want to include similar portraits for my C-19 project. These photos were taken with a standard/wide angle lens, in natural light. They've been shot with a relatively small aperture in order to maintain detail in the background, he has used a larger depth of field to better tell the story as when you look through the project you see wider shots of the same locations.
I don't believe that these images are particularly staged, I think he has asked them to stand in front of the camera whilst he took the shot. I think this because the 2 people in the second image seem slightly awkward like they're not really sure what they're supposed to be doing and the gent in the first image seems very comfortable almost as if that's his go to pose for photos. You also see that he's pointing up to the sky like he's pointing up to the aliens he's researching.
This next 2 images were shot with a wide angle lens, natural light, and a very small aperture as everything is sharp from front to back. In the first image you see twigs and branches in the foreground, a few trees and a fence in the middle and you see some kind of domed building in the background which has been hidden behind the trees. In the second image you get a closer, more detailed shot of the domed building, you see the same fence and 'foliage' in the foreground and the building in the background.
Despite the building being in the background still it takes up a lot more of the frame than in the first image, giving you a better look at what it is, the fence acts as a leading line to draw your eye across the image and towards the building. I like that in both photos he has something in the way of the building like its a secret and you're not supposed to be there, this is synonymous with this project being based around the subject of UFOs which is often shrouded in mystery and conspiracies.
Both photos have a similar colour palette of browns, greens, oranges and greys and they are muted/desaturated and give the images a dystopian feel although these kind of lighting conditions are common in the UK so i'm not sure whether this was intentional or just a coincedence.
Another image I was particularly drawn to was the photo taken at night in what id imagine to be the same woods as the previous photos. The image was shot wide but has used a flash, or torch to shine a 'spotlight' on a group of trees whilst letting the rest of the image fade to darkness. This photo works well with the project despite being quite visually different from the rest of the project because it makes me feel like this is a beam of light from some kind of UFO.
images © Samuel Fradley - a handshake with a martian
Comments